Saturday, August 24, 2013

You call this a tribute?: The Wacky World of Tex Avery (1997)

Brody Dowdler isn't that well known in animation. However, in 1997, Dowdler attempted to create a series that would serve as a homage to the works of legendary animator-director Fred "Tex" Avery. Unfortunately, the fact that Dowdler hasn't been heard from again speaks volumes about how well The Wacky World of Tex Averywasn't received by critics and viewers alike.

Wacky World lasted 65 episodes, exactly 1 season, but they should've quit after the first week, because this was beyond awful. Since the rights to Avery's actual creations laid elsewhere, Dowdler had to create new characters, including a cowboy named---wait for it----Tex Avery, but loosely based on the title character of a WB cartoon that starred Bugs Bunny, Red Hot Ryder, and that was some 50-odd years earlier! Billy West (Futurama) voiced the animated Avery and assorted other characters, joined by stalwarts such as Maurice LaMarche & Cree Summer.

Robochao21 uploaded the series opener. Judge for yourself how stupidly bad this is:

More recently, the series aired on This TV, but that was 3 years ago. And ya wonder why there ain't a DVD release to be had?

3 comments:

This had Tex's name on it but it wasn't representative of the name. I think Tex was still alive when this originally aired so there may have been some contractual thing to attach him to the project even though he didn't actually do anything.

I knew Avery had passed well before Wacky World came into being, since Kwicky Koala and the Dino & Cavemouse shorts (1980's Flintstone Comedy Show) were his last works, and I remember reading of his passing.

I should note that the studio, Les Studios Tex, a French outfit, also did Sabrina's Secret Life, which I reviewed on Friday.

As for the Wacky World, I tried watching it one day when it aired on WSBK in Boston. Just bad.